


In The New Sun Rising (A Permanent State)

by Kawaiibooker



Series: V one-shot [17]
Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Canon Divergence, Christmas Fluff, Established Relationship, Everything is Beautiful and Nothing Hurts, Family Feels, M/M, Old Age, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-04 00:57:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17888495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kawaiibooker/pseuds/Kawaiibooker
Summary: The Emmerichs invite some old friends over for Christmas.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [JohnnyChu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/JohnnyChu/gifts).



> Beta-read by [Yeoyou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yeoyou) and [Pyrokaster](http://pyrokaster.tumblr.com/).
> 
> For [JohnnyChu](https://twitter.com/J0hnny_Chu) and Hailee, thank you for commissioning me!
> 
> V series setting, 2012. This fic relies on the [ending of the series](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8548510/chapters/19598899). Please read that first.

The phone is awkward in his hands, too small and yet too bulky, the stubborn give of its buttons something he has to get used to again. Flippable display, round, an inoffensive design really.

Snake has been staring at the screen for an hour now, pressing left, then right on the D-pad to prevent it from going dark. There's a little cluster of pixels that's permanently black and he can't remember when that happened but it bothers him.

“Dave.”

His eyes stay on the phone but he's listening. He always is.

“It's, what, two in the morning? Yeah, 2:30 AM in Japan. They're probably just asleep.”

Sighing, David looks up, catches the sleepy smile on Hal's lips and the glasses in perpetual danger of falling off his nose, fogging up from the steaming coffee in his hands.

Always the voice of reason in the whirlwind that is his life. David grumbles, “Asleep, huh?”, places the phone on the nightstand, reluctant to let go entirely.

“Master–” He corrects himself. “ _Kazuhira_... Dunno if he even kept that burner phone to begin with. Seemed kinda eager to be done with the past, last time I saw him.”

But Hal just snorts from where he leans against the wooden frame of the door. “Are we still talking about the guy who dedicated decades of his life to killing Big Boss?”

Snake throws a deadpan look his way. Otacon chuckles into his coffee.

“I'm serious, Hal. Besides, him and Christmas? Never seemed the type for it.”

“I'm just saying, Dave.” Hal crosses the short distance between them, fingers gentle on David's until he leaves the phone behind. “The man you knew all those years ago... I don't think he was meant to be Master Miller, not forever. Perhaps he found something else out there, y'know?”

David takes Hal's hand in his, runs his thumb over the simple gold ring he wears. “Perhaps”, he repeats, softer now. _I hope he did._

There's movement coming from the door – a flash of silver in the corner of his vision but it's gone by the time he turns his head to look. Small, quick steps, growing ever more distant.

Worry gnaws at Hal, the subtle lines on his face deepening with it. David kisses his knuckles, smiles a little when it successfully distracts him. “Eggs for breakfast?”

Hal chuckles and pulls him to his feet.

*

Hours later, Snake returns to a letter-shaped notification in the very center of the screen.

_bringing +1_

He stares at the simple _K_ it's signed with and smiles.

_Copy_

– _D._

*

Sunny goes into hiding even before the doorbell rings.

Instead the short buzz summons the dogs, lazy and slow-paced as they've become in their old age – David scratches Dango's ear on his way over, squeezing between the beige-grey shoulders of Hana and Mona to reach the handle.

“C'mon girls, down... No, out of the way, I said– Ugh, _fine_.”

He catches a glimpse of his old teacher through the slim crack he manages to pry away from the dogs and _oh_ , the ever-present frown is deeply familiar even if the gentle smile dawning on his face is not.

“I'll be damned”, Kazuhira murmurs before he laughs, quiet and rumbling and the dogs start barking at the sound of his voice. “Look, V – my dogs!”

David gives in and lets them through, some of the nervous tension within him melting at the sight of Kazuhira kneeling down and hugging the dogs he raised as puppies. He looks... good, for lack of a better term, blond hair kept in the same long ponytail and eyes obscured by a pair of aviators that are virtually unchanged.

Snake wouldn't be surprised if they are the ones he spent years trying to pierce through, to figure out the person behind them.

There's a man at his side that David doesn't recognize on the spot – his gaze flits over white hair streaked with brown and a kind smile and a cane made of polished wood to meet the undemanding look in heterochromatic eyes – one white, one deep blue – and his heart stands still, for a beat that feels endless.

“Hey, David”, the phantom of Big Boss says but his voice is not the harsh rasp he remembers but soft and calm, worn down by age.

Seventeen years it's been since they met, in the middle of a metal hangar bathed in the crimson lights of the self-destruct mechanism. Seventeen years since David raised his gun and Big Boss told him to go instead.

He blinks and the memory fades, replaced by an old man in a wool coat and fuzzy gloves.

“Hey. Vincente, right?” David offers his hand and the other blinks – _surprised?_ – before he switches his cane from right to left to shake it. A solid grip, not too tight.

“Call me V. Uh, Merry Christmas.”

David hums, not unkindly. “Yeah, that too.”

What a strange world they live in.

The dogs have stopped slobbering all over their long-lost master; Kazuhira is still chuckling, wiping the mess off his face and on the sleeve of his bomber jacket but David never felt his attention waver from his and V's interaction.

Maybe he's not the only one who's nervous.

With his aviators off and propped safely on his head, the subtle signs of age are easier to spot: the deepening crinkles around Kazuhira's eyes, the wisps of white in his hair.

“Dave.”

David swallows down the instinctual answer, opting to nod and say: “Kazuhira.”

The other snorts and before he knows it, David's getting pulled into a hug, short but firm. “That's Kaz to you, kid.” Kaz lets him go, ruffles his hair that's beyond salt-and-pepper, these days. “What's this?”

David ducks away with a huff. “Long story. Come in, put your shoes up there or the dogs'll get 'em.”

It's... weird, the sheer domesticity of pointing out the guest room and doing a tour of the house. It's big compared to the dingy flats him and Otacon used to hunker down in, back in the infant years of Philanthropy – clean and organized and well-heated, and the barren walls and impersonal furniture aside, it could make a nice home for a family, someday.

 _Or, well... a home for us_ , David muses, if two rogue operators, their foster child and three ancient dogs were anything like a normal family. Add 'Uncle Jack' into the mix and they're a unique bunch, to say the least.

Kaz notices, of course he does. “Safe house”, David explains quietly, well-aware the walls have tiny, child-sized ears around here.

Behind them, V makes a pensive noise. A searching glance finds him looking through the bedroom window, around the room, mapping exits and lines of sight almost casually. “Good layout. Easy to defend.”

Simple but high praise, if only a fraction of the things he knows of the man are true. David nods, “Kinda hoping it's not gonna come to that”, motions for them to follow down the stairs to the basement.

The civilian facade quickly dissolves into row after row of servers and humming computers. Holed up in the typical tangle of screens, keyboards and blinking LEDs, Hal jumps to his feet the moment they round the corner.

“Shoot, I didn't– Got caught up in something, sorry–”

“This is Hal”, Snake interrupts him with a smile, catching Hal's fumble with words with practiced ease. “My husband.”

The second those two words are out of his mouth, Kaz's expression gains a certain sharpness to it that causes an instinctual _uh oh_ to go off in David's head. Being able to _see_ the calculating look in his eyes as he introduces himself and his partner is no real improvement there.

Hal is saying, “Nice to finally meet you”, blissfully unaware of the questioning he's in for later. At the press of a few buttons, the lines of code on the screens keep scrolling without further input – Hal grabs a few empty mugs and gives them a sheepish smile.

“Sorry for flying you out so far up North. Anchorage has little to no CCTV-coverage, saves us that headache at least.”

They make their way back up and to the kitchen. With Hal around, the flow of conversation is secured, and David settles into the comfort of brewing some coffee – the half-decent kind, not the shitty filter coffee they usually make out of sheer laziness – as technical questions and answers bounce back and forth, the state of world politics and predictions of a worrisome future that seems too large for the plain four walls holding them.

It reminds David of before, when they used to sit on Kaz's porch with the dogs playing in the snow and the turn of the millennium fresh in their minds. War has changed, moved far past the equipment they brought down Big Boss with–

But so have they, David realizes, when V offers his hand for the closest dog to sniff. It's mechanical, a combination of red and black metal that was clearly designed for combat but now serves to give gentle scratches to Hana's chin.

For a brief moment, Kaz pauses to watch them too, and there's a softness in his gaze that transcends language and yet speaks volumes. Something he found between then and now, something of his own away from the endless workings of war they are all a product of, one way or another.

_A strange world, indeed._


	2. Chapter 2

Christmas Day greets Kazuhira Miller with a face full of dog.

Back in the 2000s he used to wake up like this every single day: with Hana and Mona slowly but surely squeezing the air out of his lungs and Dango's ass closer to his nose than he's technically comfortable with. Grumbling, he fights for a little space to move, defending his face from happy-wet tongues.

“Morning”, comes an amused voice from the other side of the bed. “Just like their parents, aren't they?”

Kaz huffs, “Oh, definitely”, leans over the wagging of curled tails to give V his good morning kiss. His husband, too, is half-buried under dog-shaped weight; Dango turns this way and that across his legs, lazily stretching in the attention of his petting hands.

“Can't believe Dave kept 'em all these years.”

Mona does a little dance of excitement in Kaz's lap, mouth opened in a wide smile. “Hmm? Did the kid treat you right, yeah?” Grinning, Kaz pats her flank. “C'mon, down you go...”

Suddenly, there's a nudge to his side. He blinks up at V, follows the nod of his head–

A child stands in the door, wide eyes amidst shining silver hair; she can't be any older than five. Clearly startled, she disappears out of sight before Kaz can open his mouth to say anything.

“Uh... Okay?”

They exchange a look – V just shrugs. “She was watching us yesterday, too.”

Working around the dogs, they go about their usual morning routine: V trims his beard while Kaz brushes out his hair, bunching and twisting it into a bun expertly. Dressed in comfortable cable-knit sweaters and as groomed as they're going to get, Kaz is fixing V's collar when a tiny voice speaks up behind them.

“U-um...”

The girl is back, this time accompanied by Hal who gives her a little push and an encouraging thumbs-up when she glances up at him for guidance. Kaz attempts a reassuring smile as well but it's V her shy gaze clings to, following the path of the almost-healed scars on his face and never quite making it to his eyes but trying nonetheless.

Something there must give her confidence because her slim shoulders suddenly straighten. “I m-m-made eggs... i-if you're hungry?”

V perks up and Kaz gives him a teasing smile. “Don't worry, this one always is. He's V, I'm Kaz. What's your name?”

“Sunny!”

“Hey, Sunny”, says V. She giggles and waves.

Kaz watches disbelief bloom on Hal's face, quickly hidden though it is; he himself has seen the way both kids and animals tend to gravitate towards V's calm nature one too many times to be truly surprised.

There's pride there too, in Hal's voice when he places a gentle hand on her head. “Well, like Sunny said: Breakfast is ready. Dave is out on his morning run and, uh, usually the dogs go with him...” He chuckles, scratches at his stubble-length beard at the three currently snoring away in bed. “Heh. Seems like they decided to invade you guys instead. Sorry 'bout that.”

Kaz waves the apology away. “Old dogs are stubborn like that. Let's go, those eggs sound delicious.”

Peeking behind Hal's legs, Sunny  _beams_.

*

Dense snowfall turns everything outside into a flurry of white. All the more warm and peaceful are the lights twinkling between the branches of the pine, glowing in complex patterns on the living room carpet and the torn gift wrap strewn in an uneven circle around it.

Stuffed with far too much food – Hal, for all he embraces the IT-expert-slash-otaku he is, turned out to be a masterful cook, too – Kaz still manages to sneakily eat one or two slices of the self-made baumkuchen they brought from Japan, cloaked in the half-dark.

As sneaky as he can be surrounded by current and former super-spies, that is.

The TV is on if muted, explosions and rapid-fire action interrupted by Bruce Willis mouthing one-liners that both David and V recite by memory... in the same breath with discussions of how to better execute this jump and that shot.

Kaz exchanges a look with Hal, barely suppressing a snicker at the other's fond eye-roll.

Sunny is fast asleep, curled up against Dave's side. The sight warms Kaz's chest more than he's willing to admit. A pocket of peace in troublesome times – once upon a time, he used to dream of this, to build a home for himself and V and some dogs and perhaps, in a secret corner of his heart, a child was part of the picture too.

In another life, this could've been  _them_.

Returning to Alaska had been rather high on his list of things-to-avoid but here, with V huffing a genuine laugh at one of David's snarky comments and David flashing him a good-natured grin in return, the regrets he used to scream into the snow have lost their edge.

He looks at V's profile, runs his fingers through the softness of his hair, tucks the short strands behind his ear. For Kaz, V lets his favorite line in the entirety of  _Die Hard_  pass to lean into the touch and kiss his palm, with tenderness in his smile and Christmas lights in his eyes.

Though the twisting and turning of the past led him astray more than once, at the end of that winding and at times impossible path Kaz found something better than dreams and what-ifs.

He found a family.

**Author's Note:**

> Turns out I still had a lil bit of MGS to give c: I hope y'all enjoyed! Writing Vkaz is like coming home aaaa <3
> 
> [tumblr](https://kawaiibooker.tumblr.com) / [twitter](https://twitter.com/kawaiibooker)


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